Coyotes spotted in urban areas locally

Published 7:16 pm, Sunday, May 11, 2014

The range of coyotes has expanded with the decline of wolf populations. The Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife does not provide nuisance control of coyotes.

The range of coyotes has expanded with the decline of wolf populations. The Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife does not provide nuisance control of coyotes.

Photo: TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE

Coyotes spotted in urban areas locally

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Sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, May 6, a coyote was hit and killed on North Main Street in Liberty.

Presumably it was killed by an automobile. No one has reported actually witnessing it, but neither has any spent ACME rocket pack been located in the area.

Across the country, reports of coyote sightings in populated areas have increased in recent years.

The animals have been seen in major urban areas and their surrounding suburbs from California to New York. Newspapers have reported on coyotes showing up in Dallas, Arlington, San Antonio and Austin.

Locally, people have reported seeing them around and some suspect them of preying on their pets.

The Liberty Police Department’s animal control officer picked up the unlucky coyote from North Main. Police Chief Billy Tidwell confirmed that it was a coyote. The officer investigated but found no evidence of roadrunner activity in the area, he joked.

Descriptions of coyote behavior make the term “wily” seem apt.

According to information provided by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), coyotes will make dens out of natural cavities or dens abandoned by other animals but will then dig multiple escape tunnels from the den to the surface.

They are primarily nocturnal and “will eat just about anything,” says TPWD, feeding mostly on rabbits, rodents and insects, but also eating carrion, lizards, snakes, fish, as well as fruits and vegetation.

The range of coyotes has expanded with the decline of wolf populations.

As urban and suburban development expands into coyote habitats, more and more coyotes will be seen in populated areas.

TPWD does not provide nuisance control of coyotes but does recommend some common sense precautions for people to take that can help manage coyotes.

Do not feed coyotes, and keep pet food inside. Do not feed other wild animals or feral cats that may hang around and attract coyotes. Use trash cans that cannot be easily opened. Keep pets indoors or otherwise protected, and fence off fruit trees.

The expansion of coyote ranges following the decline of wolf populations suggests a possible case of nature’s retribution. Feral hogs have made a nuisance of themselves and the feral hog population has grown dramatically over the last 20 years.

Coyotes do not hunt hogs, but wolves do, or wolves did before we exterminated them from East Texas.

The Texas Almanac says the red wolf was once to be found throughout the eastern half of Texas, but “has now been extirpated from the wild.” The gray wolf had ranged over most of Texas, but it is now gone, too.

With the wolves gone, there is an increase of feral hogs and coyotes. Had the wolves been left alone, there might have been too few coyotes or wild pigs to cause a noticeable problem.